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The observer | wednesday, OctOber 28, 2020 | ndsmcobserver.com

InsIde cOlumn

My top five favorite Timothée Chalamet movies

Allison Thornton

Photo editor

The 24-year-old actor has had my heart since day one. The first movie I ever saw him in was “call me by Your name” and after watching it I was hooked. he is brilliantly talented and seems like a very genuine guy. For this Inside column, I asked my roommates for ideas, and together we procrastinated on our homework and compiled a list of our favorite Timothée chalamet movies. Please enjoy and I am sorry if there are any spoilers!

1. “little women”

In this movie, chalamet played Laurie, the character that falls in love and proposes to Jo march (played by the queen saoirse ronan), but is turned down. chalamet does an amazing job of growing with his character throughout the film. When he is pouring his heart to Jo on the hillside, you can’t help but feel his pain. he made the character so real through the screen. now when many picture Laurie, they think of chalamet. That’s when you know he did a good job. Plus this movie is an American classic; it was one of the best movies to come out in 2019.

2. “beautiful boy”

For this film, chalamet took on a very hard role. he plays a methamphetamine addict and you see his journey of becoming sober. This movie has you crying practically the entire time. chalamet’s performance was out of this world. his chemistry with steve carrell (who played his father) was perfect. nothing bad can be said for this movie. If you are looking for a good cry, this is the perfect movie for you.

3. “call me by your name”

As stated in the introduction of this article, “call me by Your name” has a special place in my heart. It was the first movie I saw with chalamet in it. Located somewhere in northern Italy around the 1980’s, the audience follows the love story between oliver and elio. chalamet plays elio, a teenager trying to figure out his life, just like we all are. It’s a coming of age love story; it portrays a summer where two people fall in love. This indie film was a turning point for his career. The raw emotions he portrays in this movie are like none other.

4. “the King”

okay, all I need to say is Timothée chalamet has a british accent. That should sell everyone to watch this movie honestly. but in reality, chalamet plays a brilliant young henry v and the movie follows him through war and treachery. These are big shoes to fill and chalamet sets the bar. Throughout the movie, you can see clear character development. set in the 1400’s the movie touches on very interesting political aspects. he carries this movie with ease and yet another outstanding performance.

5. “lady bird”

This is also a coming of age film starring saoirse ronan. Although chalamet was a minor character in this movie, I want to give it credit. It was brilliantly directed and connected a lot with its audience. both ronan and chalamet had perfect chemistry and were able to tell an amazing story along the way.

You can contact Allison at athornton01@saintmarys.edu

The views expressed in this Inside Column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Need for guaranteed civil representation

Justice Mory

In the Interest of Justice

In the U.s., a citizen’s ability to secure favorable legal outcomes largely depends on the proficiency of legal representation. In the 1963 U.s. supreme court case Gideon v. Wainwright, the sixth and Fourteenth Amendments guarantee a right to legal counsel for all accused of a crime. This ensures a fair trial and due process for the accused person standing against his or her accusers. It is established then that the right to a fair trial can only be protected if a person has access to adequate legal representation, regardless of his or her financial status. however, while the American legal system upholds fair trial protection in criminal cases, the same cannot be said for most civil cases. This is a clear ethical flaw in terms of the system adequately protecting the rights of all U.s. citizens. With civil legal counsel not being guaranteed by the constitution, those without the financial means to obtain adequate legal advice are forced to fend for themselves in cases involving contracts, including those related to property. The ability to navigate the civil legal system depends greatly on an individual’s financial status, and this must change.

In civil law cases in the U.s. legal system, people with the financial means, resources and flexibility can seek desirable outcomes, while many others are left in the dust. some may argue that guaranteeing the right to counsel in criminal cases is enough, and that perhaps expanding this to civil cases would be too impractical, or that civil cases are simply not as important to people or their livelihoods. however, this viewpoint neglects the reality of civil cases, as well as the associated costs that are a barrier to fairness.

The first step in litigation is often consulting an attorney to seek qualified legal advice. The national rate for an attorney is $225 per hour. In comparison, approximately 42.4% of U.s. workers make less than $15 per hour. It should come as no surprise then that for many people, coming up with the money to deal with legal disputes is not only unaffordable, but unfeasible. According to The Atlantic, a clarus poll resulted in 67% of respondents saying that “the time and trouble it takes to file a lawsuit discourages many people with legitimate cases from going to court.” everyday people are deterred due to cost and lack of expertise. Additionally, there is no national system for civil representation or assistance that meets the needs of many Americans. These barriers to representation for low income Americans coexist in the same system where wealthy people, who have the luxury of utilizing the resources needed to win a dispute, have direct disputes against these poorer people.

A figure provided by Pew shows that 54% of civil litigation involved suits by businesses against individuals, comprised of debt collection, landlord-tenant and mortgage foreclosure cases. Are the defendants of these types of cases in situations where they have the financial capacity to adequately respond to these claims? People in debt? Tenants? People at risk for a foreclosure? These people are in vulnerable positions and without access to an attorney, they will have a tremendous burden in defending themselves. This is a shortcoming of the current system where access to fair civil trial is not guaranteed. These cases are not insignificant either, with basic necessities at stake, such as maintaining a place to live. many people are forced to represent themselves, setting themselves up for legal failure. The national center for state courts (ncsc) released a report which found that “at least one party was self-represented in more than threequarters of the cases.” The number of people without fair representation is high, and under consideration that many do not even file for civil cases due to the costs and requirements, even higher. A boston bar study about housing disputes found that “full representation therefore allowed more than two-thirds of the tenants in this pilot to avoid the destabilizing consequences of eviction, including potential homelessness.”

“represented tenants also received almost five times the financial benefit (e.g., damages, cancellation of past due rent) as those without full representation,” the study reported.

Adequate civil representation matters, and this study shows just how dire the consequences are when people are not given a fair shake in the American civil legal system. The ramifications are real, including research suggesting that a continuous cycle of concentrated poverty could be the result of this lack of civil legal representation.

The American legal system is failing to protect the rights of all U.s. citizens due to the lack of access to a fair trial with counsel. There needs to be a better understanding of the severity of civil cases. many of these cases are too important not to incorporate under the right to counsel. by forcing a large chunk of U.s. citizens to be inadequately represented in the civil legal system, the U.s. is failing to uphold due process. To ensure all U.s. citizens have equal protection and ability to stand a fair chance in civil cases, there needs to be a major reevaluation of which types of cases should include the right to counsel. The legal system must work for all people, regardless of financial status and this starts with expanding the right to an attorney to civil cases, especially cases concerning basic needs.

Justice Mory is majoring in business analytics and is part of the John W. Gallivan Program in Journalism, Ethics, and Democracy. He is from Southern California, and now lives in Duncan Hall. His main goal is to keep learning and to continue to become more informed. He can be reached at jmory@nd.edu or @JmoryND on Twitter.

The views expressed in this column are those of the authors and not necessarily those of The Observer.

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THE OBSERVER | wednesday, OctOber 28, 2020 | NDSMCOBSERVER.COM

This November, a call for humility

Ellie Konfrst Butterfly Effects

It’s a tale as old as time — or, at least, as old as cable news. Americans are more politically divided than ever, and traditionally unifying places, such as the Thanksgiving table, have become battlefields filled with impeachment-shaped land mines. The conversation about American political polarization is more salient than ever as the country approaches the most divisive election in modern history: Earlier this year, Gallup recorded the largest ever party gap in the presidential approval rating.

The poll showed 91% of Republicans said they approved of President Trump’s job performance, while only 2% of Democrats said the same, revealing a whopping 89-point gap based on party affiliation. The problem extends beyond electoral politics, too: Democrats and Republicans show stark disagreement on issues of identity, education and even the COVID-19 pandemic.

As party polarization has reached new heights, the issue has become almost as pervasive in political discourse. Why are we so divided? Who’s to blame? Is it even a problem? If it is, how do we fix it? These questions dominate our Twitter feed, the New York Times Opinion Section and, if you run in circles like mine, the lawn outside North Dining Hall.

Even those who consider themselves relatively apolitical have a stake in this debate. For many, polarization has spilled outside the voting booth into our personal relationships — in fact, recent polling from the Pew Research Center found that 71% of Democrats wouldn’t consider dating someone who voted for Donald Trump in 2016, and 47% of Republicans say the same about those who voted for Hillary Clinton. Regardless of your opinion on the relevance of polarization in bringing us to our current political moment, most people don’t want to harbor a burning hatred for their neighbors.

While this campus certainly has its problems, I’ve always found the political climate at Notre Dame to

Megumi Tamura

Middle GrouND

“The hamster wheel of life.”

Do you ever read something that perfectly puts your thoughts into words? That’s how I felt when I was scrolling through Instagram and came across this phrase.

This semester has consisted of its many ups and downs, but, overall, it’s been rough for a lot of people. Of course, nobody expected to go back to normal college life in the middle of a pandemic. And, as a student in the Gateway Program, I knew even without the coronavirus that my first year of college wouldn’t look like everyone else’s. But I’m also sure nobody could have predicted all of the anxiety, national news headlines and tragedy these past few months have brought about.

From the initial boom in positive COVID-19 cases which occurred just a few weeks into the start of in-person classes, to the controversial nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court and a petition for the resignation of University President Fr. John Jenkins when he tested positive for COVID-19 after not wearing a mask at the Rose Garden. From the hundreds of students struggling in social isolation, to the unbelievably tragic and shocking news of the deaths of two first-year students on the morning of Oct. 24. So many news-making and/or horrible things have happened in the span of three months that it’s almost impossible to wrap our heads around it all.

All of this occurs amidst a presidential election, a political climate more contentious, scandal-filled and polarized than usual, a national “racial reckoning” as social injustices be uniquely tolerant of a diversity of political opinions. In my experience, Notre Dame students place a rare premium on tolerant political conversations. Still, we’re not immune from the effects of political polarization — it’s not uncommon for participants engaging in supposedly tolerant dialogues to retreat back behind party lines once the conversation ends. With a week to go before Election Day, I want to challenge everyone in this community to think about reaching across the aisle in a new way: with humility.

To be honest, I’ve always been kind of skeptical of pleas to cross the political divide. It seemed like it could only go one of two ways: Either you honestly go in looking for common ground and end up compromising some of your core values and beliefs, or you approach the conversation in a condescending way, assuming the other person is wrong but trying to understand why they think that way. Recently, though, I realized there was another way — one that might actually make a difference.

The funny thing about political beliefs is that, by definition, everybody thinks theirs are correct. For the most part, not only does everyone think that they’re correct, but they also find it impossible to understand how someone else, with all the same facts and assumptions, can come to a different conclusion. That might seem like an obvious statement, but think about how often you’ve approached political discourse assuming that the person you’re talking to is wrong, they just don’t know it yet. Most people believe that there is some capital-T Truth about politics and that they’re tuned into it, while those across the aisle are somehow delusional.

The big revelation for me was that, no matter how much I think I’m correct in my political opinions, people who think exactly the opposite are just as confident in the Truth of their beliefs as I am. Beyond that, unfortunately, there is no omniscient being to tell us who is right and who is wrong. To a large extent, there is no Truth — we are all just looking for the best solutions to the problems we face, and because of our various political socializations, we all think differently about what those are. continue to bring to the surface many institutional flaws which exist in our country and, of course, a global health crisis that’s nowhere near its end with daily cases reaching higher numbers than ever before.

While we watch all of this happen on campus and on the news, we go through an accelerated fall semester with zero days off, no fall break and an abnormal amount of stress over schoolwork, extracurriculars and — I’m sure for many upperclassmen — post graduate employment.

I say all of this not to complain because I’m extremely lucky to be able to go to college and especially to be able to experience it in-person. Rather, I say this to bring me back to that quote: “the hamster wheel of life.” The “Hamster Wheel” describes a sort of cycle which a lot of us find ourselves in sometimes. It’s basically when we get caught up in our personal “to-do” lists and in the busyness and chaos of our world. Each day starts to blend together, and we begin to feel like we’re living the same day over and over again.

With all of the events of this past semester and the increased stress over our academics, the political climate and our individual and public health, we start to feel numb, like we lack meaning in the everyday, like we are being controlled by our lives and what’s going on around us, rather than the other way around, and like we’re forgetting what really matters. Living on the Hamster Wheel can seem like life — let’s say that’s the hamster wheel — is going by fast and out of our control and we — the hamsters in this metaphor — begin to feel exhausted trying to keep up.

In my last column for the semester, I hope to write about this sense of repetitiveness, increased and sometimes overwhelming stress in the particular strange times we’re living in and this feeling of being on the Hamster Wheel of Life

Now, none of this is to wax poetic about the value of unity and your obligation to have discussions with those who refuse to converse in good faith. Everyone is absolutely entitled to set their own limits for their political engagement, and you are not obligated to enter into conversation with anyone, especially if they offend you personally. Instead, it’s simply an appeal for everyone, when thinking about their political beliefs, to recognize that they might be wrong.

If you do choose to enter into the dreaded discourse, do so without hubris, and instead with a legitimate recognition that someone else might actually have a good point. Humility is a necessary prerequisite to productive political discourse — without it, you might as well be screaming into the void.

A lot of this might sound like wishful thinking, having grown up in the most divisive political environment of the modern era. And maybe it is, maybe we as a society are beyond saving and are doomed to let hate push us further and further from each other until our divisions become insurmountable. I don’t think that’s true though, and I don’t think it’s particularly productive to think that way. I don’t think we’re past the point of no return — I think we find ourselves at an inflection point.

With one of the most consequential elections of our lives approaching, all of us will have ample opportunity to engage with those with whom we disagree, and we all have a choice in how we do so. I challenge everyone, in these next few weeks and beyond, to approach political discourse with all humility — our future (and yours, if you’re dead set on dating that Republican from Dunne) may depend on it.

Ellie Konfrst is a junior majoring in political science, with minors in the Hesburgh Program for Public Service and civil & human rights. Originally from Des Moines, Iowa, she’s excited that people will finally be forced to listen to all of her extremely good takes. She can be reached at egloverk@nd.edu or @elliekonfrst13 on Twitter.

The views expressed in this column are those of the

Letter tO tHe edItOr

The hamster wheel of life

authors and not necessarily those of The Observer. to, again, not complain, but in the hope that someone else can read it and feel like they’re not the only ones. Becoming aware of the fact that we’re experiencing prolonged feelings of exhaustion, stress and unhappiness is actually a really good thing because it opens the door for conscious and active change: We can either stay on this hamster wheel and continue running in circles or we can choose to get off, slow down and take back the reins.

Going forward with the final four weeks of the fall semester consisting of what will undoubtedly be a stressful and chaotic presidential Election Day, as well as final exams, let us try not to get too caught up in our wheels of stress and cycles of to-do lists. Let us remember to be kind to ourselves and others, breathe, find time to do things we enjoy which don’t have to contribute to some achievement-oriented goal, get outside and take in the last few weeks of the beautiful fall weather, prioritize spending time with loved ones and making sure to take care of ourselves and those around us.

May we remind ourselves that life is about more than the obligations, to-do lists and confusion of the external world and feel the freedom which comes with self-reflecting, reevaluating and leaving the hamster wheel into more fulfilling lives.

Megumi Tamura is a first year in the Gateway Program. She is originally from Ridgewood, New Jersey, and enjoys going to museums, watching political debates and eating Jersey bagels. She can be reached at mtamura@nd.edu or @megtamura on Twitter.

The views expressed in this column are those of the authors and not necessarily those of The Observer.